Jim Bruce's bloghttps://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce
enKnow Yourself. Demonstrate Your Values. Remain True to Them.https://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/know-yourself-demonstrate-your-values-remain-true-them
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<div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><em>Today’s Tuesday Reading is an essay by Theresa Bamrick, CIO at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory operated by Stanford University. Her essay first appeared as a leaders program reflection last fall. [Theresa may be reached at</em> &lt;<em><a href="mailto:tbamrick@slac.stanford.edu" target="_blank">tbamrick@slac.stanford.edu</a></em><em>&gt;.] </em><br />
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I come from a cranberry and fishing town near Cape Cod, MA. My parents were born in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Greatest_Generation" target="_blank">Greatest Generation</a>, when survival and self-sufficiency were the keys to getting by. Both worked to support their families, and neither completed high school. Consequently, I was raised with an emphasis on <strong>creative solutions that didn’t require money </strong>(great foundation for working at a Lab!), and on long-forgotten Yankee skills like splitting wood, canning the summer’s harvest, and hunting for the winter’s meat. My parents valued practical knowledge over academics, and didn’t understand the importance of higher education as a path toward professional achievement. Utterly unaware that there was a way I *<strong>could</strong>* go to college out of high school, I combined a profound sense of patriotism with a compelling desire to get out of a no-future rut and joined the Marines at 18.<br />
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United States Marine Corps: Images of heroism, selfless valor, fitness, service, grit, pride. There were less than 5000 females (out of a force strength of over 200,000) in the Marine Corps when I enlisted. And those of us who challenged the Old Corps were <strong>pioneers</strong> in the ultimate male-dominated industry. I worked in signals intelligence and ground electronic warfare, and was a Chinese linguist and cryptanalyst. I finished my second tour with the Corps as a Chinese instructor at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey.<br />
<br />
As I thought about our Stanford leadership lesson, about the balance between leading, managing, and doing, I reflected on my decade in the Corps. While I don’t recall any specific acts of heroism or valor, I can tell you that there were many lessons I still carry with me to this day from those amazing years. <br />
<br />
I learned about <strong>placing people first</strong> – their training, development, well-being, and never leaving anyone behind. I learned about <strong>trusting and empowering</strong> my people to act in accordance with the overarching mission and objectives of the greater organizations. As an individual contributor, or perhaps a small team of specialists in a particular domain, the lives of my platoon, company, and battalion might be at stake based on MY level of job expertise – and I learned the importance of how <strong>my role was integral to the achievement of the mission.</strong> I swelled with the pride of doing work well and being recognized for it to the further pride of my unit, and I learned about the value of <strong>recognizing others for their efforts and dedication to excellence</strong>. How to <strong>praise publicly</strong>, and how to <strong>counsel privately</strong>. <br />
<br />
I learned about <strong>teamwork</strong>, and that no task is beneath someone when it has to be accomplished for the good of the organization – scheduling, sharing, <strong>fairness</strong>, pitching in. I learned how to give <strong>briefings</strong> to non-technical, and non-domain strategists so they could use my work to form tactical and strategic courses of action.<br />
<br />
I learned about <strong>multiculturalism</strong>, both from the people I served with, and from the places I was stationed. I learned about international relations through <strong>civic duty</strong> – on one deployment to the DMZ in Korea, my company commander volunteered us to help the local village plant rice. We spent a lot of time <strong>getting to know people</strong> with fewer than 20 words of language in common. I got great exposure to <strong>cross-functional collaboration</strong> as we shared resources and missions with the Navy and the NSA.<br />
<br />
I saw masterful<strong> agility</strong>, <strong>mobility</strong> (long before it was a tech buzz word), and <strong>logistical sophistication</strong>. Lots of people cannot pack effectively for two weeks’ vacation with the family, yet our logisticians could deploy our battalion, fully-self-sufficient, for 6 months on a week’s notice. Imagine three 18-21 year-old cooks, handling the <strong>planning and preparation</strong> of 3 meals a day for 300 Marines on a mountain 30 miles from the nearest village.<br />
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A thousand lessons in leadership, management, and the importance of <strong>executing</strong> everything from the shine on the edge of your shoes to a report headed for the White House <strong>with exemplary standards of excellence</strong>.<br />
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I don’t know that a leader can actually be all things to all people, but I think the greatest lessons from those years were around the importance of <strong>values-based leadership</strong>. Leading in <strong>service to others</strong> and holding <strong>true to integrity and honor</strong> as your highest pillars. These are the kind of things that <strong>the people you lead and serve can hold onto in turbulent</strong> times of change, and that will help guide them to follow your leadership. <strong>Know yourself</strong>. Know and demonstrate your<strong> values</strong>, and lead others by knowing them, and <strong>remaining true</strong> to your principles. <br />
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Semper Fidelis! <br />
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<p><strong>«««»»»</strong></p>
<p> <br />
These are very powerful words from Theresa. Take a moment, go back and read and reflect on principles Theresa listed. Ones that spoke loudly to me included place people first, trust and empower, recognize others, praise publicly, counsel privately, teamwork, fairness, getting to know people, cross-functional collaboration, executing with exemplary standards of excellence, values-based leadership, service to others, holding true to integrity and honor, knowing yourself, knowing and demonstrating your values, remaining true to your principles.<br />
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Each of these could become the basis for a new practice. Perhaps you might want to select one to work on in the next few weeks.<br />
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Make it a great week for you and your team. . . . . jim<br />
<br />
<em>Jim Bruce is a Senior Fellow and Executive Coach at MOR Associates. He previously was Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Vice President for Information Systems and CIO at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.</em></p>
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Tue, 15 Jan 2019 12:11:29 +0000Jim Bruce5240 at https://www.morassociates.comhttps://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/know-yourself-demonstrate-your-values-remain-true-them#comments3 Practices from "41"https://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/3-practices-41
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<div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><h2><span style="color:#0000FF">New Practices for the New Year</span></h2>
<p><br />
Here we are, a week after New Year’s Day. Now, if you are a typical American, there’s a 40% chance that you have made one or more New Year’s Resolutions. Babylonians made resolutions 4000 years ago, and since then, a lot of us have followed. I think this is good news. Since most of our resolutions call for us to engage in an activity that is for our own good, this can be a very good thing. Not so good, however, is the result of research that found that only 8% of those of us who make resolutions are successful in achieving them even though 57% of us were initially confident that we would be successful.<br />
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This year I want to change our focus in two ways: First, I want to urge you to work to own – that is, to make regular use of – three new practices. And second, I’m going to make it easy for you by giving you the three practices.<br />
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On November 30, 2018, George H. W. Bush, 41<sup>st</sup> President of the United States died. Much has been written about his achievements as President and about positions he had taken as President and at other times in his life. Lily Rothman, History and Archives Editor at Time Magazine, has recently reviewed what has been written over the years about the former president and has identified three life lessons that have inspired many people from a broad spectrum of ages, professions, and political views. She reports on these lessons in an essay “<a href="http://time.com/3649423/life-lessons-president-george-hw-bush/" target="_blank">3 Crucial Life Lessons From President George H. W. Bush</a>.”<sup>1</sup> When I first read her essay, I was attracted to the universality of the lessons and how they encompass much of what the MOR Leaders Programs teach. It is in this spirit that I share with you these three practices:</p>
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<p><strong>Be nice, but not weak.</strong> Garry Wills in a cover story about Bush’s 1988 presidential campaign said, “George Bush is authentically nice enough to put one’s teeth on edge,”<sup>2 </sup>meaning that he was so nice that it might feel unpleasant. However, in this case given his past history in sports and his service record in World War II, being very nice shouldn’t be seen as a weakness. Bush was a star athlete in high school and the youngest naval aviator of his generation. He was far from weak.<br />
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The advice to us then is that we should be nice to others, treating them with the care and dignity with which we would like to be treated. And, at the same time, we can be strong and not weak leaders, striving to complete the tasks we and our teams are engaged in with excellence and without excuse.<br />
<br /><strong>Don’t forget to say, “thank you.” </strong>The Tuesday Reading immediately before Thanksgiving Day was an essay titled “Learn to Express Your Gratitude.”<sup>3 </sup>There I wrote: “Treat others with the same level of courtesy as you expect to receive ­– smile, show kindness, exhibit patience, don’t interrupt, and listen.” Remember not only what you have received, but what the cost of the “gift” was to the giver.<br />
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While President, every evening George Bush would take time to write cards and thank you notes to friends, political allies and strangers. While some saw, and perhaps we see, efforts like this as a waste of time, it built relationships that made significant positive differences in what the President was able to accomplish. As he said in his inaugural address, “goodwill begets goodwill.”<sup>1</sup> So, step up and say “thank you.”<br />
<br /><strong>Do your best, try your hardest. </strong>This was advice that President Bush’s mother gave him. It was also the advice that my mother and my father often gave me when I was complaining about how hard a task was or my lack of knowledge. Why would you ever do a half-hearted job on a task? Why not give it your very best effort? The way you approach a task will be seen by others and it will matter.<br />
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So, three practices to carry with you throughout each and every day:<br />
• Be nice, but not weak.<br />
• Don’t forget to say, “thank you.”<br />
• Do your best, try your hardest.<br />
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Let them represent a new lens through which you visualize your work and your interactions with others. Look for opportunities to “practice” them. I do believe you’ll find that it will change you and those around you.<br />
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Make it a great week for your team and for you. . . . jim<br />
<br /><em>Jim Bruce is a Senior Fellow and Executive Coach at MOR Associates. He previously was Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Vice President for Information Systems and CIO at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.</em><br />
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References:</p>
<ol><li>Lily Rothman, <a href="http://time.com/3649423/life-lessons-president-george-hw-bush/" target="_blank">3 Crucial Life Lessons From President George H. W. Bush</a>, Time Magazine, December 2018.</li>
<li>Garry Wills, <a href="http://time.com/vault/issue/1988-08-22/page/24/" target="_blank">The Ultimate Loyalist</a>, Time Magazine, August 1988.</li>
<li>Jim Bruce, <a href="http://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/learn-express-your-gratitude" target="_blank">Learn to Say Thank You, to Express Your Gratitude</a>, Tuesday Reading, MOR Associates, Inc., November 2018.</li>
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Tue, 08 Jan 2019 12:11:29 +0000Jim Bruce5217 at https://www.morassociates.comhttps://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/3-practices-41#commentsThe Twelve Days of MORhttps://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/twelve-days-mor-0
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<div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><em>Today’s Tuesday Reading – The Twelve Days of MOR – is an essay by Christy McColum, Director of Administration, Washington University Information Technology. [Christy may be reached at <a href="mailto:cmccollum@wustl.edu" target="_blank">cmccollum@wustl.edu</a>.] </em><br />
<br /><em>Her essay first appeared as a program reflection in 2017 and then as the Tuesday Reading on December 19, 2017.</em><br />
<br />
<br />
The <strong>Twelve Days of MOR</strong>, also known as <strong>MOR Maxims</strong>, is a game changing, customized leadership development program celebrating LEADERS at all levels of an organization.<br />
<br />
"The Twelve Days of MOR" is a contemporary Christmas carol that enumerates in the manner of a cumulative song a series of increasingly grand gifts given to each of us on our leadership journey. The song, yet to be published, can be sung to yourself, or to your family and coworkers, in the familiar tune of the “Twelve Days of Christmas.". Although this would be much more effective presented with an interactive audience, please enjoy the musical interlude. . .<br />
<br />
On the first day of MOR, Brian McDonald gave to us. . .</p>
<ul><li><strong><span style="color:#B22222">The first impressions exercise</span>.</strong> (How to build my leadership presence – be MINDFUL, be INTENTIONAL, be AUTHENTIC, be CREDIBLE, and ENGAGE others.) </li>
</ul><p>On the second day of MOR, Brian McDonald gave to us. . .</p>
<ul><li>Tools to create a <span style="color:#006400"><strong>development plan</strong></span><strong>. </strong>(Set a goal, so that …, develop actions and practices, form a habit, create a timeline to establish dates or milestones.) And,</li>
<li>The first impressions exercise.</li>
</ul><p>On the third day of MOR, Brian McDonald gave to us. . .</p>
<ul><li>A blueprint to conduct a <strong><span style="color:#B22222">SWOT analysis</span>.</strong> (Identify the <em>upsides,</em> Strengths &amp; Opportunities; and the <em>downsides</em>, Weaknesses and Threats, of our organization.)</li>
<li>Tools to create a development plan. And,</li>
<li>The first impressions exercise.</li>
</ul><p>On the fourth day of MOR, Brian McDonald gave to us. . .</p>
<ul><li>A lesson on<span style="color:#006400"> <strong>Neuroscience and Developing Practices</strong></span><strong>. </strong>(Focus is power, expectations can shape our perceptions, attention density shapes identity, mindful change requires practice, focus on identifying and creating new behaviors.) </li>
<li>Blueprint to conduct a SWOT analysis.</li>
<li>Tools to create a development plan. And,</li>
<li>The first impressions exercise.</li>
</ul><p>On the fifth day of MOR, Brain McDonald gave to us. . .</p>
<ul><li><span style="color:#B22222"><strong>Phases in Leading Change</strong></span><strong>. </strong>(Learning the landscape, building awareness and support, engaging people in the change process, using power and influence to build support, incorporation of changes, documenting results.)</li>
<li>A lesson on Neuroscience and Developing Practices.</li>
<li>Blueprint to conduct a SWOT analysis.</li>
<li>Tools to create a development plan. And,</li>
<li>The first impressions exercise. </li>
</ul><p>On the sixth day of MOR, Brian McDonald taught us. . .</p>
<ul><li><span style="color:#006400"><strong>How to exercise influence</strong></span><strong>. </strong>(The power of expertise, the power of information, the power of relationships.)</li>
<li>Phases in Leading Change.</li>
<li>A lesson on Neuroscience and Developing Practices.</li>
<li>Blueprint to conduct a SWOT analysis.</li>
<li>Tools to create a development plan. And,</li>
<li>The first impressions exercise. </li>
</ul><p>On the seventh day of MOR, Bill Hogue gave to us. . .</p>
<ul><li>A workshop on <span style="color:#B22222"><strong>Demand Management</strong></span><strong>.</strong></li>
<li>How to exercise influence.</li>
<li>Phases in Leading Change.</li>
<li>A lesson on Neuroscience and Developing Practices.</li>
<li>Blueprint to conduct a SWOT analysis.</li>
<li>Tools to create a development plan. And,</li>
<li>The first impressions exercise. </li>
</ul><p>On the eighth day of MOR, Garland Elmore gave to us. . .</p>
<ul><li>A workshop on <span style="color:#006400"><strong>Lessons on Communication</strong></span><strong>. </strong>(One-way vs. two-way communication, the importance of audience analysis, developing effective message structure, delivery techniques.)</li>
<li>A workshop on Demand Management.</li>
<li>How to exercise influence.</li>
<li>Phases in Leading Change.</li>
<li>A lesson on Neuroscience and Developing Practices.</li>
<li>Blueprint to conduct a SWOT analysis.</li>
<li>Tools to create a development plan. And,</li>
<li>The first impressions exercise. </li>
</ul><p>On the ninth day of MOR, Brian McDonald gave us. . .</p>
<ul><li><span style="color:#B22222"><strong>Emotional Intelligence</strong></span><strong>. </strong>(Self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, and relationship management.)</li>
<li>A workshop on Lessons on Communication.</li>
<li>A workshop on Demand Management.</li>
<li>How to exercise influence.</li>
<li>Phases in Leading Change.</li>
<li>A lesson on Neuroscience and Developing Practice</li>
<li>Blueprint to conduct a SWOT analysis.</li>
<li>Tools to create a development plan. And,</li>
<li>The first impressions exercise.</li>
</ul><p>On the tenth day of MOR, Brian McDonald gave to us. . .</p>
<ul><li><strong><span style="color:#006400">Tips on Communicating with Success</span></strong><strong>. </strong>(SUCCESS = simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotion, stories, sticky.)</li>
<li>Emotional Intelligence.</li>
<li>A workshop on Lessons on Communication.</li>
<li>A workshop on Demand Management.</li>
<li>How to exercise influence.</li>
<li>Phases in Leading Change.</li>
<li>A lesson on Neuroscience and Developing Practices.</li>
<li>Blueprint to conduct a SWOT analysis.</li>
<li>Tools to create a development plan. And,</li>
<li>The first impressions exercise. </li>
</ul><p> In the eleventh day of MOR, Brian McDonald gave to us. . .</p>
<ul><li>Tools for engaging in <span style="color:#B22222"><strong>Difficult conversations</strong></span><strong><span style="color:#B22222">.</span> </strong>(Ask, acknowledge, articulate, address options, practice . .practice. . practice.)</li>
<li>Tips on Communicating with SUCCESS.</li>
<li>Emotional Intelligence.</li>
<li>A workshop on Lessons on Communication.</li>
<li>A workshop on Demand Management.</li>
<li>How to exercise influence.</li>
<li>Phases in Leading Change.</li>
<li>A lesson on Neuroscience and Developing Practices.</li>
<li>Blueprint to conduct a SWOT analysis.</li>
<li>Tools to create a development plan. And,</li>
<li>The first impressions exercise. </li>
</ul><p>On the twelfth day of MOR, Brian McDonald gave to us. . .</p>
<ul><li>Our <span style="color:#006400"><strong>c</strong><strong>ommencement diploma</strong>!!</span> And a lesson in life –<span style="color:#006400"> I<strong>f you ever get the chance to sit it out or dance . . . I HOPE YOU DANCE</strong>!</span></li>
<li>Tools for engaging in Difficult conversations.</li>
<li>Tips on Communicating with SUCCESS.</li>
<li>Emotional Intelligence.</li>
<li>A workshop on Lessons on Communication.</li>
<li>A workshop on Demand Management.</li>
<li>How to exercise influence.</li>
<li>Phases in Leading Change.</li>
<li>A lesson on Neuroscience and Developing Practices.</li>
<li>Blueprint to conduct a SWOT analysis.</li>
<li>Tools to create a development plan. And,</li>
<li>The first impressions exercise. </li>
</ul><p><strong> Happy Holidays to All!!! </strong></p>
<p><strong>«««»»»</strong></p>
<p> <br />
Christy has provided us all with a memorable refresher for key elements of the MOR framework to leadership. This gives each of us an opportunity to refresh what we’ve learned through participation in the MOR program, to see what’s still to come if you are now in a program, and for those of you who have not participated in one of the MOR programs to get a sense of what we see as key elements of a leader’s work.<br />
<br />
On behalf of all of us at MOR, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday time.<br />
<br />
The Tuesday Reading will return on <strong>January 8, 2018</strong>. <br />
<br />
Make it a great holiday. . . jim<br />
<br />
<br /><em>Jim Bruce is a Senior Fellow and Executive Coach at MOR Associates. He previously was Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Vice President for Information Systems and CIO at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.</em></p>
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Tue, 18 Dec 2018 12:11:29 +0000Jim Bruce4960 at https://www.morassociates.comhttps://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/twelve-days-mor-0#commentsLeadership as Performance Arthttps://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/leadership-performance-art
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<div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Harry Davis is the first individual to connect leadership and performance art that I ever encountered. He is the Roger L. and Rachel M. Goetz Distinguished Service Professor of Creative Management at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. We met at the 2008 MOR Leaders Conference<sup>1</sup> where Professor Davis was the featured speaker. His topic was Leadership as Performance Art. <br />
<br />
As he spoke<sup>2</sup> that afternoon, he began by answering the question that his presentation title left hovering in all of our minds: Why a Performing Arts Metaphor? Professor Davis gave four answers:</p>
<ol><li>The phrase points to <strong>universality</strong> – As Shakespeare said so eloquently:</li>
</ol><p> “All the world’s a stage,<br />
And all the men and women merely players;<br />
They have their exits and their entrances;<br />
And one man in his time plays many parts…”<br />
We are all on life’s stage, over time we play many roles, sometimes we lead,<br />
sometimes we follow, sometimes we are just there.</p>
<ol><li><strong>Agility</strong>. A leader will appear in many “plays,” most often multiple plays at the same time. And, they also play many different roles at any one time and certainly over their lifetimes.</li>
<li><strong>Practice.</strong> The complicated role of a leader can be decomposed into smaller, manageable pieces which can be practiced.</li>
<li><strong>Impact.</strong> One’s power and influence flows from the performance of one’s role.</li>
</ol><p>Davis makes the point that in playing any role – e.g., Associate Vice President of IT Support Services – an individual may take on different “characters” each having different personal qualities that they choose for display to others. For example, an individual who is a Senior Manager of IT Infrastructure Services, might take on primary characters of “the expert,” “the controller,” “the planner,” “the workaholic,” “the problem solver,” etc. At the same time this individual might also take on secondary characters of “the politician,” “the analytic one,” “the salesman,” etc.<br />
<br />
Davis also notes that in order to perform any role well you must bring your appropriate character to the stage at the appropriate time. Sometimes your character will need to be at the forefront, and sometimes on the periphery, and sometimes completely off-stage supporting someone now on-stage (for example, by coaching before the on-stage occasion).<br />
<br />
Davis told us that a prerequisite for effective leadership is having thought through how we would perform as different characters (the more the better) and developing the flexibility to bring the right character to the forefront given the task and the audience. He is a strong believer in the principle that to understand leadership, you have to experience it, and to improve, you have to practice.<br />
<br />
So, as we come to the end of the year, you may want to consider taking time to think about the characters you now play in your current role and explore how you might further develop these characters to increase your effectiveness.<br />
<br />
Davis is always on the lookout to explore parallels between art and work. He explored one earlier this year. Along with several collaborators, he gathered about 40 students, faculty, and staff with little or no singing experience to form a Chicago Booth pop-up choir. The UChicago News<sup>4</sup> reports that “After three hours of rehearsal … the choir performed in front of a live audience and walked away with a new perspective on leadership. (A documentary of their experience can be found <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzK_rf4nYMM&amp;feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">here</a>.)<br />
<br />
Participants in the pop-up choir learned four lessons:</p>
<ol><li><strong>Part of learning leadership is through “followership.”</strong> You need to learn when to lead, and when to step back and listen. And, sometimes you may have to dynamically lead and follow at the same time. In the South African song <em>Asimbonanga</em>, They were always leading and following at the same time, listening in the moment and responding to what their fellow singers were doing.</li>
<li><strong>Learning leadership through failure.</strong> In learning how to sing, some are going to hit some sour notes. And, that’s OK. Failure is often the best way to learn. “Through choral singing, the students discovered that they have to keep singing even when they make a mistake, otherwise the song stops.” Davis’ collaborator Mollie Stone, choral director and lecturer at the University of Chicago, said, “We are afraid of failure. Until you try all sorts of different approaches, you can’t succeed, because you have to know what <em>not</em> to do often times before you know what to do.”</li>
<li><strong>Learning leadership through respect and humility.</strong> “If leaders can let go of their predispositions and open themselves up to differences and appreciate them, they can better understand how to engage people from other cultures in ways that are productive.” Paying attention to others takes your attention off yourself and enhances your learning.</li>
<li><strong>Learning leadership through vulnerability.</strong> Being vulnerable is a frightening prospect for leaders. From the choir experience, participants experienced first-hand how much they could learn when they gave themselves the freedom to take risks. One Booth student said that “I realized that even when you’re in a leadership position there are times when you don’t feel completely confident and you have to lean in and allow the team to give you the energy to move forward.”</li>
</ol><p>One aspect of being a leader is that there is never a sense of being “done” with your development as a leader. Effective leaders are always growing, learning new tools, new approaches, having new experiences that stretch what they know and enable them to be better. I hope that this Tuesday Reading will encourage you to develop new characters for your repertoire, to take a risk and step out beyond your comfort zone, and to establish new relationships focused on learning some things that are new.<br />
<br />
Do make this week a great learning experience for you and your team. <br />
<br />
. . . . jim<br />
<br />
<br /><em>Jim Bruce is a Senior Fellow and Executive Coach at MOR Associates. He previously was Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Vice President for Information Systems and CIO at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.</em><br />
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<br />
Notes and References:</p>
<ol><li>For a decade, beginning in 2008, the MOR Leaders Programs held annual conferences to provide opportunities for individuals who had attended one of the workshop programs to gather to renew relationships and to gain new knowledge. Initially, the first few of the conferences were physical conferences, most often in Chicago. Later, we experimented with virtual conferences which took on several different forms. The last of the conferences was held in 2017.</li>
<li>The slide set, “Leadership as Performance Art” from the 2008 MOR Leaders Conference, can be found <a href="http://www.morassociates.com/2008conf/HarryDavisITLeadershippdf.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>.</li>
<li>Here is an <a href="https://www.morassociates.com/sites/default/files/docs/harrydavisitleadership-10.pdf">illustrative list of “characters”</a> derived from Davis’ presentation at the MOR 2008 Leaders Conference and MOR Workshop Materials: The Analytic One, The Collaborator, The Curious One, The Energizer, The Expert, The Generalist, The Loner, The Patient One, The Problem Solver, The Rebel, The Storyteller, The Visionary, The Workaholic, etc. Your character isn’t in the list? Just add it the list. And, as you think about any character you take on in your role, think about the personal qualities that character might display – the perspectives they might take on, the talents they possess, their values, their behaviors, and their skills.</li>
<li>Sandra M. Jones, <a href="https://news.uchicago.edu/story/booth-leadership-lessons-singing-choir" target="_blank">Leadership Lessons from Singing in a Choir</a>, UChicago News, November 23, 2018.</li>
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Tue, 11 Dec 2018 12:11:29 +0000Jim Bruce4969 at https://www.morassociates.comhttps://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/leadership-performance-art#commentsLet’s Choose to Be Civilhttps://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/let%E2%80%99s-choose-be-civil
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<div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Two weeks ago, on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, I wrote about <a href="http://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/learn-express-your-gratitude" target="_blank">gratitude</a> – the importance of expressing gratitude, how to cultivate a practice of showing gratitude, and about the impact our showing gratitude has on others. After completing that essay, I watched the CBS Friday (November 15) Evening News. The last of the evening’s news items was about a man who served in the Vietnam war as a helicopter gunship door gunner. On Christmas Day 1970, he was given a letter written by a young school girl. One line in the letter stood out: “I want to give my sincere thanks for going to fight for us.” The airman carried that letter with him, reading it every day. He said that the letter got him through the war, and that he still reads it often. The power of expressed gratitude, even from someone you don’t know, is far greater than you might think!<br />
<br />
Today, we want to explore another of those simple words, civility, that we need to stop and think hard about. What does civility, the result of being civil, really mean? What is the cost of incivility, or not being civil, both personally and organizationally? And, how do we create a civil environment wherever we are?<br />
<br />
What is civility? Christine Porath, Associate Professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University is an expert on civility. She conducts research on civility, teaches and writes extensively on the subject, and helps organizations create a thriving civil work environment. In her TEDTalk, <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/christine_porath_why_being_nice_to_your_coworkers_is_good_for_business/transcript?language=en" target="_blank">Why Being Nice To Your Coworkers Is Good For Business</a>, Porath begins by first defining “incivility.” It is disrespect or rudeness and includes many behaviors from mocking or belittling someone, to teasing people in ways that hurt, to telling offensive jokes, to arriving late to meetings, to texting in meetings, to harassment, etc.<br />
<br />
To Porath’s list, Audrey Murrell, Associate Dean and Director of the David Berg Center for Ethics and Leadership at the University of Pittsburgh College of Business Administration, in an essay titled <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/audreymurrell/2018/07/16/stopping-the-downward-spiral-of-workplace-incivility/#6886a12654ef" target="_blank">Stopping the Downward Spiral of Workplace Incivility</a>, adds public rebukes, demeaning language, taunting, yelling and insulting remarks. Murrell also notes that “There is alarming evidence that incivility at work is pervasive and on the rise.” She continues: “Incivility represents a form of psychological harassment and emotional aggression that violates the social norm of mutual respect.”<br />
<br />
It’s complicated because much of what is uncivil – e.g., texting while in a discussion in a meeting, being yelled at, etc. – to one individual may be fine to another. It is all in the eyes of the beholder and whether that individual feels disrespected. Although we may not have intended to show disrespect to someone by our actions, when we do it may have consequences.<br />
<br />
So, how many individuals have been touched by a significant incivility? Porath’s research has shown that it is almost impossible to be untouched by incivility during one’s career. Over her career, interviewing thousands of workers, she has found that some 98% of those interviewed have experienced uncivil behavior and that 99% have witnessed it. In 2011, half of the people she surveyed said that they were treated badly at least once per week.<br />
<br />
And, that leads to asking what the cost of not being civil is? This question led Porath and her colleague, Christine Pearson, a professor at the Thunderbird School of Global Management, to conduct a number of research surveys about how incivility affected performance. These surveys were prompted by Pearson’s theory that small, uncivil actions might lead to much larger problems like aggression and violence, and that incivility might affect performance more broadly.<br />
<br />
Their first study involved business school alumni working in several organizations. Each participant was asked to write a few sentences about one experience where he or she was treated rudely, disrespectfully or insensitively, and to answer several questions about how they reacted. What Porath and Pearson found was that incivility made people less motivated: 66% reduced their work efforts, 80% lost time as they worried about what happened, and 12% left their jobs. When the results of the study were published, several things happened: Cisco took the study results and estimated that if these results held for Cisco, incivility was costing them $12 million per year.<br />
<br />
Further studies by Porath and Pearson and others provided additional insights associated with workers who had been on the receiving end of incivility:</p>
<ul><li>48% intentionally decreased their work effort.</li>
<li>47% intentionally decreased the time spent at work.</li>
<li>38% intentionally decreased the quality of their work.</li>
<li>80% lost work time worrying about the incident.</li>
<li>63% lost time avoiding the offender.</li>
<li>60% said their performance declined.</li>
<li>71% said that their commitment to the organization declined.</li>
<li>12% said that they left their job because of the uncivil treatment.</li>
<li>25% admitted to taking their frustration out on customers.</li>
</ul><p> <br />
In addition, studies found that creativity suffers. In one set of experiments individuals treated rudely were 30% less creative than individuals in the study who were <strong>not</strong> treated rudely. Also, they produced 25% fewer ideas than others and the ideas they did have were less original.<br />
<br />
It gets worse. Individuals who <strong>witness</strong> incivility are impacted as well. For example, witnesses to incivility were less likely than others to help out even when the person they would be helping had no connection to the uncivil person. Only 25% of the subjects who had witnessed incivility volunteered to help compared to 51% of those who did not witness the incivility.<br />
<br />
In a study reported in <em>Fortune</em>, managers and executives of <em>Fortune </em>1000 firms spend 13% of their work time (that’s equivalent to seven weeks each year) mending employee relationships and otherwise dealing with the impacts of incivility.<br />
<br />
Given the results of these studies, one has to ask how we help our organizations become more civil? Here are four suggestions:<br />
</p>
<ol><li><strong>Hire for civility.</strong> Avoid bringing incivility into your workplace to begin with. Some organizations consider the civility of their applicants in the initial interview process. For example, they look for behavioral clues such as talking too much and being unwilling to listen carefully in interviews. This can often be best identified by including an interview by the team the new hire will join.</li>
<li><strong>Implement the 10-5 rule.</strong> Ochsner Health System, a large health care system spanning southern Louisiana, has a simple rule for all employees: when you’re within 10 feet of someone, you make eye contact and smile, and if you are within five feet, you say hello. With the institution of this norm, civility spread, interaction between staff increased, patient satisfaction scores rose, as did patient referrals.</li>
<li><strong>Psychological safety.</strong> The focus of the February 27, 2018 <a href="http://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/psychological-safety" target="_blank">Tuesday Reading</a> was psychological safety. There I noted that Amy Edmondson, the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School, was first to identify the concept of “psychological safety.” In a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhoLuui9gX8" target="_blank">2014 TEDxTalk</a> talk, she said that “Psychological safety is a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes.” The term describes a team climate characterized by interpersonal trust and mutual respect in which people are comfortable being themselves and speaking openly. However, this is not an environment where there is no accountability. Edmondson sees psychological safety and accountability as separate qualities. Low psychological safety and low accountability are indicators of apathy. High psychological safety combined with high accountability result in learning, the state a team strives for so that it will be seen as both continuously learning and successful. A psychologically safe team will be a team with high civility.</li>
<li><strong>Leaders address problems that arise.</strong> Constant vigilance is required to keep an organization civil as it’s so easy for rudeness to creep into everyday interactions. Leaders have a key role in first keeping their own behavior in check and in fostering civility among others. First, since they are an example, leaders must be self-aware of their own actions and how they are seen by others. If staff see you and you are not civil, or you tolerate or embrace uncivil behavior, they may be more likely to be uncivil as well. Porath and Pearson suggest that you be diligent to model the behavior you want to see on your team as well as with those for whom you serve as a role model. And, as Murrell notes, “Ignoring bad behaviors does not make them disappear.”</li>
</ol><p> <br />
As a leader you set the tone for your organization. If you want your organization to be civil then you need to set the example through your own behavior and by calling out incivility whenever you encounter it. And, give those around you permission to call you out for any lapse in your own behavior. That will serve as a strong motivation to you to be on your guard as well as motivation to your staff to maintain their own behavior.<br />
<br />
Personal experience has shown me that being civil is important to me personally and to the success of organizations I’m associated with. Everything I know suggests that it should be important to you and your team as well. Take the time necessary to become sensitive to the incivility that is occurring around you, learn how you can effectively respond, and take action.<br />
<br />
Make it a great week for you and your team. . . . . jim <br />
<br />
<br /><em>Jim Bruce is a Senior Fellow and Executive Coach at MOR Associates. He previously was Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Vice President for Information Systems and CIO at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.</em><br />
<br />
<br />
Further reading and watching:</p>
<ol><li>Christine Porath, <em><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Civility-Manifesto-Christine-Porath/dp/1455568988/ref=asc_df_1455568988/?tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=312143020546&amp;hvpos=1o1&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=1626176277766035881&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=9001879&amp;hvtargid=pla-493021711388&amp;psc=1" target="_blank">Mastering Civility: A Manifesto for the Workplace</a></u></em>, Hachette Book Group, Inc., December 2016.</li>
<li>Christine Porath, <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/04/an-antidote-to-incivility" target="_blank">An Antidote to Incivility</a>, Harvard Business Review, April 2016.</li>
<li>Christine Pearson and Christine Porath, <em><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002AU7MHM/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1" target="_blank">The Cost of Bad Behavior – How Incivility is Damaging Your Business And What to Do About It</a></u></em><em>, Penguin Books, Ltd., 2009.</em></li>
<li>Christine Porath, <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/christine_porath_why_being_nice_to_your_coworkers_is_good_for_business/transcript?language=en" target="_blank">Why Being Nice To Your Coworkers Is Good For Business,</a> TEDTalk, October 2018.</li>
<li>Christine Porath and Christine Pearson, <a href="https://hbr.org/2013/01/the-price-of-incivility" target="_blank">The Price of Incivility</a>, Harvard Business Review, January-February 2013.Let’s Choose to Be Civil.</li>
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Tue, 04 Dec 2018 12:11:29 +0000Jim Bruce4869 at https://www.morassociates.comhttps://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/let%E2%80%99s-choose-be-civil#commentsOn Positive Curiosityhttps://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/positive-curiosity
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<div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><h3><em>Eric Abrams is the author of today’s Tuesday Reading. He is Chief Inclusion Officer at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education. His essay first appeared as a leadership program reflection earlier this year. [Eric may be reached at <a href="mailto:eabrams@stanford.edu">eabrams@stanford.edu</a>.]</em></h3>
<p> <br />
The MOR <a href="http://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/cu%C2%B7ri%C2%B7os%C2%B7i%C2%B7ty" target="_blank">Tuesday Reading</a> of October 23, 2018 focused on curiosity. Given my role at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, I found myself thinking about how curiosity can help us deal with issues of diversity and inclusion. I think this is particularly important for leaders; after all, leading people is an exercise in managing diversity.<br />
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One way that leaders can build trust and camaraderie in their diverse teams is by demonstrating an interest in others who seem to be very different. These differences may be cultural, based on socioeconomic class, rooted in gender identity, or any of the myriad other factors that make us who we are. And people – even those of us in leadership roles – are sometimes apprehensive about interacting across differences. How can we overcome this?<br />
<br />
One way might be through a concept I call <em><strong>Positive Curiosity</strong></em><em>. </em>It’s a pretty simple idea, really – it’s nothing more than taking the time and being interested and open to things, experiences and people that seem unfamiliar. <br />
<br />
Let me provide an example. Imagine that you’re in a country you’ve never visited before, having dinner at the home of a host who has been very kind and gracious during your stay. Your host brings out a platter of food, enthusiastically explaining that the recipe that has been handed down in her family for generations, and she’s clearly excited to share the dish.<br />
<br />
And it looks and smells like something you’ve never seen; in fact, you aren’t even sure what it is. <br />
<br />
At that moment, is your reaction to screw up your face, wrinkle your nose, and say, “Ugh, what is this? Your family has eaten <em>this</em> for generations?!?” Alternatively, do you smile broadly, thank your host, and say, “Ooh, what is this? Tell me about your family’s recipe!” The sentiment, in many ways, is the same – what’s different is the attitude of positive curiosity shown in the latter example. <br />
<br /><em><strong>Positive Curiosity</strong></em> allows us to demonstrate that we don’t know everything – and that we are eager to grow, to have new experiences, to consider new perspectives. Learning about the lived experience of someone different from ourselves is one of the greatest opportunities for personal development that leaders have. We can only avail ourselves of this opportunity, however, if we approach others with open ears, open hearts and open minds. When we come to those we find different with preconceived notions, or the belief that we know all we need to know about their story, it’s very difficult to learn – or to even have a productive conversation. <br />
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I think that it’s important for everyone – particularly those of us interested in educating future generations and creating stronger communities where we live, work and study – to greet the world with <em><strong>positive curiosity</strong></em>. <br />
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</p>
<p><strong>&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;</strong> </p>
<p> <br />
<br />
I’m with Eric on this. Slow down a bit and be interested in learning about those in our midst who are different than we are and have had different experiences than we have had. We and our organizations will be better as a result.<br />
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I trust that this will be a great week for you and your team. . . . . jim<br />
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<br /><em>Jim Bruce is a Senior Fellow and Executive Coach at MOR Associates. He previously was Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Vice President for Information Systems and CIO at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.</em></p>
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Tue, 27 Nov 2018 12:11:29 +0000Jim Bruce4644 at https://www.morassociates.comhttps://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/positive-curiosity#commentsLearn to Express Your Gratitudehttps://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/learn-express-your-gratitude
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<div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Day after tomorrow, the fourth Thursday of November, will be celebrated as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.<br />
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A day set apart for giving thanks in the United States, has been celebrated most years since the first colonization of our country. Beginning in 1941, Thanksgiving has been celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. Times of thanksgiving in what is now known as the United States were first observed by the French and Spaniards in the 16<sup>th </sup>century. Settlers, in what became the Commonwealth of Virginia, celebrated thanksgiving as early as 1607. An early charter associated with the settlers in Virginia required “that the day of our ship’s arrival at the place assigned … in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.”<br />
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Thanksgiving celebrations can also be traced back to a 1621 harvest feast at the Plimoth [1621 spelling] Plantation where the settlers had a successful growing season. Autumn or early winter feasts continued there sporadically in later years, first as an impromptu religious observance and later as a civil tradition.<br />
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However, the concept of giving thanks and expressing gratitude seems to be timeless. It is seen as an important human instinct in the writings, teachings, and traditions of the Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Bana’i and other faiths. In secular writing, we find Cicero writing in 54 BCE in <em>Pro Plancio</em> that “Gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues but the parent of all others.”<br />
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Let’s focus on that word gratitude. In his guest <a href="https://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/gratitude-2" target="_blank">Tuesday Reading<sup>1</sup></a> this past January, Bill Hogue, executive coach with the MOR Leadership Programs, quotes Robert Emmons, University of California, Davis psychologist and author on gratitude: “Feeling gratitude starts with the realization of what we have received from others and what it has cost them.”<sup>2</sup> <br />
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Note the emphasis on <em><strong>both</strong></em> what we receive <em><strong>and</strong></em> the cost to the giver. Too often our focus is all on what we receive. In his essay, Bill told the story of his grandmother, who dropped out of school and did piece work in a New Hampshire shoe factory. She sacrificially gave him a two-dollar bill every birthday. And, I think of my subsistence farmer grandfather in Shepherd, Texas, who rarely had any money but would give me a penny or a nickel from time to time. I think of parents who labor in their jobs to send their children to college. And, members of our staffs who often must sacrifice time with families to complete their assigned work on time. The point I wish to make is that gratitude must be seen in terms of both the gift and the cost of that gift to the giver.<br />
<br />
So, what does gratitude have to do with leadership and being a leader? A lot. Research has demonstrated that if you take gratitude as one of your reference points, it will shift your <strong>mindset</strong>. A gratitude mindset can lessen panic, envy, anxiety, stress, and depression, and strengthen relationships, increase happiness and optimism, and reduce stress and negativity. And, you will be healthier. All of these qualities positively impact your life, your leadership and your workplace. <br />
<br />
While there are many ways to develop your skill of showing gratitude, here are four that I think are particularly effective:<br />
<br /><strong>1. Observe your life and world from a gratitude mindset. </strong>You are likely to be amazed at the good things we have come to take for granted. Sharon Melnick,<sup>3</sup> business psychologist and author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Success-Under-Stress-Confident-Productive/dp/0814432123" target="_blank">Success Under Stress</a>, suggests that too often we let mental stress deflect our appreciation of what we have. She mentions three stressors, in particular, that we need to combat – an excessive focus (1) on what we don’t have, (2) on not meeting expectations imposed by ourselves and (3) on the question whether we choose wisely. Melnick argues that we combat these stressors by having gratitude for what we do have.<br />
<br /><strong>2. Actively look for opportunities to express gratitude. </strong>Researchers Francesca Gino, of the Harvard Business School, and Adam M. Grant, of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, studied<sup>4</sup> the impact of saying “Thank you” in the workplace. They found that there was a 50% increase in the amount of additional help offered as a result of showing this simple appreciation! Surely, each of us can do this. Unfortunately, one of their studies showed that 15% of us never say “Thank you” at work, and 35% of those surveyed had never heard their managers say thank you.<br />
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Bill Hogue, in <a href="https://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/gratitude-2" target="_blank">his Tuesday Reading</a><sup>1</sup> earlier this year, noted that “Gratitude <em><strong>is</strong></em> a practice, and getting started is simple. Make a commitment right now that you will express gratitude three times today. Put three quarters [or some other object, such as three small smooth stones, that will remind you of your commitment] in your left front pocket. Your objective is to empty your pocket by the end of the day. Move a quarter to your right pocket each time you express your thanks to someone for something they've done while silently acknowledging what it cost them to do it. Pretty easy. And the dividends to you and others will far outweigh your investment.”<br />
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Other approaches to verbalize your appreciation work as well. In those "ancient days" when people wrote messages on paper and sent them by mail, one large paper company printed cards with a banner “You Made My Day” and a rainbow logo and encouraged their staff to acknowledge colleagues who had been helpful with a note. Some individuals posted their “You Made My Day” cards above their desks as reminders and encouragement to themselves for the good work they had done. Although archaic, a handwritten note of appreciation, personally delivered to a person’s desk, will still be much appreciated and long remembered. And, if that’s too archaic you can settle for an email, or a tweet, or a post on Facebook.<br />
<br /><strong>3. Show respect to those around you. </strong>Treat others with the same level of courtesy as you expect to receive: smile, show kindness, exhibit patience, don’t interrupt, and listen. One health care organization introduced a “ten-five” rule: If you come within ten feet of another person, acknowledge their presence by making eye contact, nodding, smiling, … And, if you are within five feet, verbally acknowledge their presence with a word – “hello,” “good morning/afternoon,” “how are you,” … Doing this resulted in significant improvements in morale and personal interactions.<br />
<br /><strong>4. Don’t complain. </strong>When you complain you reinforce a negative state of mind without offering a solution. Instead, take a few deep breaths and focus on the positive. Work to see if there is a positive side to the negative event you experienced. <br />
<br />
So, you may want do work on your skill and practice in showing gratitude. It will be good for you, the work you do, and for all those around you.<br />
<br />
And, do enjoy your Thanksgiving celebration with your family and friends this week. No matter our circumstances, we do have much to be thankful for. And, note the wise counsel of William Arthur Ward, one of the most quoted writers in the United States: “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” <br />
<br />
. . . . jim<br />
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<br /><em>Jim Bruce is a Senior Fellow and Executive Coach at MOR Associates. He previously was Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Vice President for Information Systems and CIO at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.</em><br />
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References:</p>
<ol><li>Bill Hogue, “<a href="https://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/gratitude-2" target="_blank">Gratitude, an Emotion to Be Expressed in All Seasons</a>,” Tuesday Reading, January 2018.</li>
<li>Clare Ansberry, "<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/beyond-thankful-cultivating-a-life-of-gratitude-1510583400" target="_blank">Beyond Thankful: Cultivating a Life of Gratitude</a>," Turning Points, <em>Wall Street Journal</em>, November 13, 2017.</li>
<li>Sharon Melnick, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Success-Under-Stress-Confident-Productive/dp/0814432123" target="_blank">Success Under Stress: Powerful Tools for Staying Calm, Confident, and Productive When the Pressure's On</a>, AMACON, 2013.</li>
<li>Francesca Gino and Adam Grant, <a href="https://hbr.org/2013/11/the-big-benefits-of-a-little-thanks" target="_blank">The Big Benefits of a Little Thanks</a>, HBR Podcast and Transcript, 2013.</li>
</ol><p> </p>
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Tue, 20 Nov 2018 12:11:29 +0000Jim Bruce4557 at https://www.morassociates.comhttps://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/learn-express-your-gratitude#commentsCouragehttps://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/courage
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<div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Over the past year, I have written on many topics, but never on <strong>courage</strong>. I’m prompted to do so now by a Time Magazine article “<a href="http://time.com/5441422/expert-feelings-brene-brown-leadership/" target="_blank">America’s Reigning Expert on Feelings, Brené Brown Now Takes on Leadership</a>,”<sup>1</sup> which follows the recent publication of Brown’s fifth major book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dare-Lead-Brave-Conversations-Hearts/dp/0399592520/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1541785390&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=brene+brown+new+book" target="_blank"><em>Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.</em></a><sup>2 </sup>Fundamentally, the book is about the courage to lead.<br />
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The magazine quotes Brown saying, “Courage is a prerequisite for all leadership.” You cannot lead without courage. And, importantly, the essay continues, “[Courage] can be taught. It’s made up of four skills: being vulnerable is the most important, followed by sticking to values, trusting others and persistence. There can be no courage without vulnerability and no vulnerability without the risk of failure.” Brown says further, “The people who have the skills to get back up from a fall will engage in smarter risks and more courageous behaviors than people who don’t.”<br />
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Now, I have written on <a href="http://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/being-vulnerable" target="_blank">vulnerability</a><sup>3</sup> which Brown’s defines as “The universal emotion we feel when times are risky and uncertain, or we are at the mercy of other people’s actions.” Or, said differently, “The willingness to be ‘all in’ even when you know it can mean failing and hurting.” She continues that thought writing “When we spend our lives waiting until we’re perfect or bullet proof before we walk into the arena, we ultimately sacrifice relationships and opportunities that may not be recoverable, we squander our precious time, and we turn our backs on our gifts, those unique contributions that only we can make.”<br />
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So, from a very basic, yet fundamental point of view, leadership is all about having the courage to accept your vulnerability and show up even when you are not bullet proof, and not perfect. This is what President Teddy Roosevelt had in mind in a 1910 speech when he said, “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly … who best knows the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”<sup>4</sup><br />
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Some argue that courage is a personality trait, some people have it, and some don’t. Not so, argues Brown. As noted earlier, she insists that courage is a skill set, that you have courage when you have mastered the skills of:</p>
<ul><li>Vulnerability – can you stay with tough things when they get uncomfortable and awkward,</li>
<li>Live into your values – are you very clear about what you value, and do you operationalize these values into your behavior,</li>
<li>Braving trust – do you build trust with others and are you trustworthy, and</li>
<li>Learning to rise – are you able to quickly get back up after you have been knocked down.</li>
</ul><p>Let’s say a bit more about each of these four skills:<br />
<br /><strong>Vulnerability</strong> – First, being vulnerable does <strong>not</strong> mean you must disclose that you are vulnerable in the situation at hand. It does mean that you need to show up and to let people in. You need to understand whether you can manage the uncertainty and emotional exposure – shame, fear, anxiety, grief, disappointment, etc. – that the situation may bring. Can you stay in the hard conversations? Can you tell the truth? Can you give feedback when it’s hard? Can you ask for feedback when you know that the feedback will be hard for you to hear? Or, will you “armor up,” and <strong>not</strong> let people see the real you? Ask yourself these and other situationally appropriate questions to prepare you for your encounter. And, work to be more courageous every day.<br />
<br /><strong>Live into your values</strong> – Here, you must know what your values are. Unfortunately, you may never have asked yourself this question, either with regard to your personal values or your organization’s. Thus, asking may give you pause. However, if you are going to have courage you need to understand what you stand for. Brown’s consulting group provides some examples in “Organizing Your Values.”<sup>5</sup> For example, if you have a value of always <strong>showing up</strong> you might “live this value” by working to exceed expectations, by being fully engaged, by taking initiative, by taking responsibility for your work, etc. By identifying your values and, for each, its associated behaviors, you make the values real, actionable and achievable. And, as a result, they can become practices.<br />
<br /><strong>Braving trust</strong> – Most likely, we think of ourselves as trusting others, yet when we try to make a list of those we trust, the list is not very long and is filled with conditional notes. We confide in a small carefully chosen set of others. To become more courageous, we need to increase our levels of trust. Here is a list of seven behaviors, derived from Brown’s research that will help us cultivate trust:</p>
<ul><li>Boundary setting – clarifying and respecting everyone’s boundaries is crucial to collaboration.</li>
<li>Reliability – keep your word.</li>
<li>Accountability – we all make mistakes; accept responsibility for yours.</li>
<li>“Vault” (as in bank vault) closing – don’t break confidentiality.</li>
<li>Integrity – know your values and never compromise them.</li>
<li>Non-judgment – replace “judgment” with curiosity, ask those questions that you hesitate to ask.</li>
<li>Generosity – leave lots of room in your interpretations and expectations.</li>
</ul><p>Whenever you are in a difficult situation that requires communication and collaboration to resolve, one or more of these behaviors will likely help you get back on track.<br />
<br /><strong>Rising skills</strong> – Many leaders say it’s only possible for them to have courage because they now know how to get back up after they fail. Too often when we make a mistake or are “poked” in an area of vulnerability, we react in what we feel, in what we think, and in what we want to do. And, we take action. For example, we may channel our hurt into working hard in another area, into verbally dumping on someone not involved in the situation, into retreating into a personal space to nurse the hurt, or even stockpiling the hurt to “get even” at a later date, etc. Alternatively, we can learn to respond differently.<br />
<br />
So, what are the skills you need to have in order to get back up? You begin by examining and understanding the story you are telling yourself about what happened. You might write it down in what Brown calls an SFD or “stormy first draft.” (Actually, she uses a different “s” word that you can probably figure out.) With this draft in hand, you work on understanding what really happened. It takes courage to walk into your story. However, when you do and you really own the story, you get to write the ending. And, when you don’t own your story of failure, setback and hurt, the story owns you.<br />
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These stories are always full of emotion and feelings. You need to name the feelings and that’s hard. Too often we shy away from our feelings preferring to offload them onto others as they are too painful. To be able to consider your feelings, you need to be calm and not anxious. Brown suggests that we learn “box,” or “tactical,” breathing<sup>5</sup> and use this as a tool to calm our emotions enabling us to walk into our story and write a new ending that prepares us for the next time we step up as a leader. And, the more practice we have at examining the results of our being a courageous, vulnerable leader, the better we will get at leading courageously.<br />
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In the coming days, look for opportunities to be courageous, to walk into the arena. Step up and contribute in that meeting where you are knowledgeable but fearful given who else is in the room. Volunteer for that project that is at the edge of your comfort zone. Initiate a conversation with a senior leader you’ve not met. The list of opportunities is endless. And, when it doesn’t go as well as you’d like, take the time to understand the story and write a new ending as preparation for the next time.<br />
<br />
And, do those courageous things that will make it a great week for you and your team.<br />
<br />
. . . . jim<br />
<br />
<br /><em>Jim Bruce is a Senior Fellow and Executive Coach at MOR Associates. He previously was Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Vice President for Information Systems and CIO at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.</em><br />
<br />
<br />
References:</p>
<ol><li>“<a href="http://time.com/5441422/expert-feelings-brene-brown-leadership/" target="_blank">America’s Reigning Expert on Feelings, Brené Brown Now Takes on Leadership</a>”, Time Magazine, November 12, 2018.</li>
<li>Brené Brown, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dare-Lead-Brave-Conversations-Hearts/dp/0399592520/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1541785390&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=brene+brown+new+book" target="_blank"><em>Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.</em></a><em>, </em>Random House, 2018.</li>
<li>Jim Bruce, “<a href="http://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/being-vulnerable" target="_blank">Being Vulnerable</a>,” MOR Leaders Program, Tuesday Reading, August 2018.</li>
<li>Theodore Roosevelt, “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizenship_in_a_Republic" target="_blank">Citizenship in a Republic</a>,” speech delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France, April, 1910. </li>
<li>“<a href="https://daretolead.brenebrown.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/An-Example-Operationalizing-Your-Oganization-or-Teams-Values.pdf" target="_blank">Operationalizing Your Values</a>,” Brené Brown LLC, October 2018.</li>
</ol><p> <br />
Additional Readings and Notes:</p>
<ol><li>“<a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/dare-to-lead-summary/" target="_blank">Dare to Lead Summary</a>,” Four Minute Books, October 2018.</li>
<li>“<a href="https://daretolead.brenebrown.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/DTL-Read-Along-Workbook-v1.pdf" target="_blank">Dare to Lead: Read-Along Workbook</a>,” Brené Brown LLC, October 2018.</li>
<li>Brené Brown, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/video/dare-to-lead-brene-brown-says-vulnerability-is-the-only-path-to-courage/" target="_blank">CBS This Morning Interview</a>, October 10, 2018.</li>
<li>Brené Brown, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVD8YRgA-ck" target="_blank">Daring Classrooms</a>, South-By-Southwest Conference Keynote Presentation, March 2017.</li>
<li>Tactical breathing (as explained by former Green Beret Mark Miller to Brené Brown):
<ol style="list-style-type:lower-alpha"><li>Inhale deeply through your nose, expanding your stomach for a count of four.</li>
<li>Hold in that breath for a count of four.</li>
<li>Slowly exhale all the air through your mouth, contracting your stomach, for a count of four.</li>
<li>Hold the empty breath for a count of four.</li>
</ol></li>
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Tue, 13 Nov 2018 12:11:29 +0000Jim Bruce4412 at https://www.morassociates.comhttps://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/courage#commentsLearn to Be Lazyhttps://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/learn-be-lazy
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<div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><h2>… Discover the Value of Idleness</h2>
<p><br />
Being born in the middle of the Great Depression means that the words “lazy” and “idle” take on special meaning. In the southeast Texas town of Shepherd where I first lived, regular jobs were few. My maternal grandfather had one of those jobs, railroad section foreman responsible for maintaining a stretch of railroad track. My paternal grandfather was a subsistence farmer. He farmed, raised a few animals, hunted, bartered what he had for other goods he needed, or went without. My father had a number of jobs including running a gas station and repairing cars. If you had a job, you worked hard to keep it; if you didn’t you were seen as idle and often thought to be too lazy to hold a job.<br />
<br />
So, it should not be a surprise that my mother abhorred the idea of lazy or idle. In particular, she did everything she could to see that my younger brother and I were not mentally lazy. She read to us, we read, we did our homework. Being lazy – either mentally or physically – wasn’t on the agenda. When I got to be of high school age, my father, now working in a petroleum refinery, got to know some engineers and decided that his boys should be engineers. My brother Bob (also an engineer with degrees from MIT and now Principal Engineer at CTSI Acoustics in Houston) and I were expected to study hard, do our homework, and excel in school. And even today, both of us, well into what is considered retirement, are fully engaged. So, the concept of being lazy or idle is foreign to me.<br />
<br />
Raffaello Manacorda, writing in “<a href="https://www.elephantjournal.com/2016/07/the-deep-value-of-being-lazy-sometimes/" target="_blank">The Deep Value of Being Lazy (Sometimes)</a>,”<sup>1</sup> says that many of us carry a heavy negative judgment towards laziness. “We have been conditioned, in varied ways, to be responsible and productive members of society. We are evaluated for our productiveness which we measure in different ways.” He goes on to note that this strong bias in “favor of productivity and activity, is one of the factors that makes our lives stressful and disharmonious.”<br />
<br />
What did surprise me in my search to better understand “lazy” and “idle” was my finding this comment in Samson Mbugua’s LinkedIn essay, “<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-im-learning-lazy-samson-mbugua/" target="_blank">Why I’m Learning to Be Lazy</a>:”<sup>2</sup> “Bill Gates famously said that if asked to choose between a lazy guy and a hard worker to do a hard job, he would always choose the lazy person.” Say, what! What’s Gates getting at here? Our belief is that lazy people don't exert themselves, don’t go the extra mile, don’t do more than the minimum amount of work necessary to have their work accepted. Right?<br />
<br />
Reading Gates’ comment has led me to rethink the concept of lazy. Yes, laziness means, according to <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lazy" target="_blank">Merriam-Webster</a>, “disinclined to activity or exertion: not energetic or vigorous ‘The lazy child tried to avoid household chores.’, encouraging inactivity or indolence on a lazy summer day, move slowly, lax, not rigorous or strict, ‘lazy scholarship’.” And, it doesn’t help that the Bible lists “sloth” as one of the seven deadly sins.<br />
<br />
Alongside the outward manifestations of lazy (and idle) is the state of solitude. I wrote about solitude in the January 23, 2018 <a href="http://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/solitude" target="_blank">Tuesday Reading</a>. There I quoted from the book, <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Neuroscience-Leadership-Harnessing-Advantage-Business/dp/1137466855" target="_blank">Neuroscience for Leadership</a></em>,<sup>3</sup> by Tara Swart, Kitty Chisholm, and Paul Brown: “Sometimes simply working on a problem, even with great skill and expertise, is not enough. A familiar way of generating new concepts, ideas, or breakthroughs is the strategy of stopping work and doing something different, such as a walk in the woods, which serves to take attention away from the <em><strong>conscious efforts</strong></em> and allows more energy for activity under <em><strong>conscious awareness</strong></em>, with much greater capacity and access to a greater number of stored patterns or memories in different parts of the brain.” This is our brain’s default network at work. It “allows creative thought to flourish by transcending the present moment and environment, to ‘think outside the box’.”<br />
<br />
Cal Newport, computer science professor at Georgetown University, in his book <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Work-Focused-Success-Distracted/dp/1455586692" target="_blank">Deep Work</a></em>,<sup>4</sup> describes his pattern of working in solitude (and without interruption) for 90 minutes and then taking a break for 30 minutes to restore the brain’s energy. Similarly, Tony Schwartz,<sup>4</sup> author and founder of The Energy Project, argues that after a sustained period of work, we need to unplug to let our brain regain its equilibrium.<br />
<br />
So, what Bill Gates was getting at is not the states of laziness and idleness that I know from my youth, but the times of solitude where we actively disengage from conscious efforts to let our brain’s default network engage and to permit our brain to regain its equilibrium. It is during these times when we are our most creative selves and are able to break through blockages in the pathway to our solving whatever problem we are laboring on.<br />
<br />
So, practically what can you do to introduce solitude into your work and life? Here are some important steps that come to mind:</p>
<ol><li><strong>Have a daily plan and execute against it.</strong> I’ve written about the necessity of planning for the coming week before it begins. In the Tuesday Reading (February 6, 2018) “<a href="http://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/your-daily-calendar-%E2%80%A6" target="_blank">Your Daily Calendar</a>,” I suggested that you include in your plan time for <strong>your</strong> focused work. This time will necessarily have both “head-down” time for you to work in solitude without interruption, and time for you to take a break for your brain to regain its energy and equilibrium. When you take a break, get away from your desk, walk around (outside if possible) even for 10 or 15 minutes, talk to others but not about what you are working on, etc., it will refresh your physical and mental energy. (Note, this is not time to check your handheld and read and respond to your mail. You need to schedule specific times for these tasks as well.)</li>
<li><strong>Schedule planning days. </strong>Find a way to have a day or more alone, away from your workplace, each month or quarter, to let the voices clamoring in your head subside, so that you can do some longer-range planning for you personally as well as for your organization. I’ve personally found that some physical activity such as strenuous work in my yard or taking a longer walk by myself can be excellent stage-setters for engaging in reflection about what I should be focusing on and what my organization should be doing. It is hard to justify doing this for yourself. However, after actually doing it several times you will understand how useful it can be and, I suspect, will make it a regular part of your routine.</li>
<li><strong>Have a serious “outside” interest.</strong> In the paper, “<a href="https://hbr.org/2018/10/why-ceos-devote-so-much-time-to-their-hobbies" target="_blank">Why CEOs Devote So Much Time to Their Hobbies</a>,”<sup>6</sup> the authors report that having a true passion that you actively engage in will help you switch off and stop the constant background noise that comes from thinking and rethinking ideas which continues even when you are out of the office. They speak of total absorption in doing things with your family as well as personal activities such as collecting stickers, hand-making elaborate cards, playing in a band, engaging in a charitable or religious organization, etc. The idea is to have an interest in which you can really be absorbed and switched off from the office.</li>
</ol><p>So, I’ve come to the conclusion that there is “lazy,” as in disinclined to activity or exertion, and that there is “lazy,” as in taking the time in the course of your work to allow your mind to disengage, build new pathways between what you know, and to engage its default network. I’m continuing to learn to do the latter and finding that I am becoming more effective. Perhaps you will want to experiment with being lazy in this way this week.<br />
<br />
Make it a great week for you and your team. . . . . jim<br />
<br />
<br /><em>Jim Bruce is a Senior Fellow and Executive Coach at MOR Associates. He previously was Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Vice President for Information Systems and CIO at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.</em><br />
<br />
<br />
References:</p>
<ol><li>Raffaello Manacorda, “<a href="https://www.elephantjournal.com/2016/07/the-deep-value-of-being-lazy-sometimes/" target="_blank">The Deep Value of Being Lazy (Sometimes),”</a> Elephant Journal, July 2016.</li>
<li>Samson Mbugua, “<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-im-learning-lazy-samson-mbugua/" target="_blank">Why I’m Learning to Be Lazy</a>,” LinkedIn, August 2016.</li>
<li>Tara Swart, Kitty Chisholm, Paul Brown, <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Neuroscience-Leadership-Harnessing-Advantage-Business/dp/1137466855" target="_blank">Neuroscience for Leadership: Harvesting the Brain Gain Advantage</a></em>, Palgrave McMillan, 2015.</li>
<li>Cal Newport, <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Work-Focused-Success-Distracted/dp/1455586692" target="_blank">Deep Work, Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World</a></em>, Hachette Book Group, January 2016. (See animated book summary <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD7dXfdDPfg" target="_blank">here</a> and text summary <a href="https://paulminors.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Deep-Work-by-Cal-Newport-Book-Summary.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>.)</li>
<li>Tony Schwartz, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/opinion/sunday/relax-youll-be-more-productive.html" target="_blank">Relax! You’ll be More Productive</a>, New York Times, February 2013.</li>
<li>Emilia Bunea, Svetlana Khapova, and Evgenia Lysova, “<a href="https://hbr.org/2018/10/why-ceos-devote-so-much-time-to-their-hobbies" target="_blank">Why CEOs Devote So Much Time to Their Hobbies</a>, HBR, October 2018.</li>
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Tue, 06 Nov 2018 12:11:29 +0000Jim Bruce4264 at https://www.morassociates.comhttps://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/learn-be-lazy#commentsplus • singhttps://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/plus%C2%A0%E2%80%A2%C2%A0sing
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<div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><h2><span style="color:#0000FF">… a technique that allows people to iterate on ideas without using harsh or judgmental language. While used typically in teams and on the ideas of others, plussing works equally well on one’s own ideas - when one’s self critic can be particularly vocal.</span></h2>
<p><br />
You may never have previously encountered the word “plussing.” Neither had I until I recently ran across several essays about Pixar and the tools that company uses to get its team of animators and others working on a film to collaborate with each other. In a word, the technique they use is called “plussing” which has been recognized as a feedback/mentoring approach that is particularly effective in stimulating collaboration and providing feedback in large groups. <br />
<br />
Pixar is extremely well known for its full-length animated feature films. Making an animated film requires collaboration across large numbers of employees with very different skill sets, and in particular among those who draw the animated images that become the film. Typically, an animator is assigned to work on one or two of the film’s many scenes at a time. A typical single scene, which might be four seconds long, requires about 100 frames (drawings) for the scene. It takes one animator about one week to animate one scene. As an example, it took Pixar five years to create the more than 146,000 images for the 2015 film <em>Inside Out</em>.<br />
<br />
For <em>Monsters, Inc.</em>, animators spent as much as 12 hours on a single frame, for example, animating each of Sully’s 320,413 individually animated blue hairs. Sometimes the process seemed more forensic than artistic. Story artists went through each detail of a scene, scanning for things that would likely go unnoticed by viewers – the placement of a prop or the way a character’s eyes move or the details of a shadow. Some of these changes would require significant rework in the complex web of formulas, coding, and even the physics that defines a character’s lifelike performance on screen. Further along the process, the bits and pieces of the story – camera angles, lighting, sound effects, motion capture – are reviewed and revised by film editors, technical directors, and creative designers.<br />
<br />
Clearly, many talented individuals from multiple disciplines are needed to collaborate over long periods of time to create any one of these successful films.<br />
<br />
The question is how do all of the animators, the director, and all the other highly skilled individuals working on film effectively collaborate. Each day each animator’s work is fed into a central system that serves as a platform where the director and others associated with the film can review all of the previous day’s work. Then, the next morning they meet to review the work from the previous day, and <em>critique it</em>.<br />
<br />
And, as you might expect, that critique can be brutal. To make the meeting productive, Pixar has its own system for feedback built on candor, open communication, and a surprising openness to other people’s ideas. The company calls the system “plussing.” Its origin is attributed to Walt Disney and the way he ran his production meetings at Disney. The organizational principle is simple: No one is permitted to shoot down an idea; your criticism must come with a “plus,” a new idea or a suggestion for strengthening the original.<br />
<br />
Joe Hirsch, author and managing director of Semaca Partners, a management consulting firm, illustrates this process in his essay “Pixar’s Secret for Giving Feedback.”<sup>1</sup> There Hirsch writes, “Instead of shutting down ideas completely, animators try to add on to the idea with suggestions for improvement. So, when the creative director for Pixar’s upcoming <em>Toy Story 4</em> [slated for release in 2019] doesn’t like the way Woody’s eyes roll from frame to frame, she won’t just toss the sketch. Instead, she’ll ‘plus’ it by asking the story artist, ‘I like the way you drew Woody’s eyes. What if they roll left?’”<br />
<br />
Jim Dunbar,<sup>2</sup> who currently works in public libraries and regional library systems and provides library services to the general public and to rural libraries in Alberta, Canada, provides another example: “Consider the situation where a director is working with an animator on a scene. The director may not like much about the entire sequence. However, she will identify one aspect of the scene she does like (perhaps the movement of the main character) and then say ‘I like how Huck’s body twists as he swings the bat <em>and</em> what if he were to smile as he does that?’ Now the animator has some feedback to build on. Notice that ‘and’ does not imply judgment as the word ‘but’ would have. Rather, ‘and’ opens up the possibilities for discussing ideas and thoughts. I believe this is a very powerful technique for encouraging the sharing of ideas and for allowing concepts to develop. In the initial stages, creative ideas are fragile and the individuals proposing them are very sensitive to judgment and criticism.”<br />
<br />
While you might see this as just semantics, the effect is significant. Rather than rejecting ideas in their entirety, “plussing” provides an individual with a mechanism to use to add to the original idea without rejecting it or using harsh or judgmental language. Andy Cleff<sup>3 </sup>also notes that while plussing was initially used in teams on other people’s ideas, it can also be effectively helpful if you use it to critique your own ideas.<br />
<br />
Plussing can be summarized in three basic rules, the first two of which are taken from the world of improvisation:<br /><br /><strong>1. Accept all offers.</strong> In other words, listen. This is the first rule of improvisation where you respond, Yes, and … <strong>not</strong>, Yes, but … In plussing, you say “Yes, and …” or “What if …” or “How can we now …” or “Yes, and what if we were not to …” Joe Hirsch<sup>1</sup> makes several other suggestions – instead of “This will never work,” we ask “What if we tried …?”; instead of “I don’t see that happening,” we ask, “How might we do this?;” and instead of “We’re not staffed for that,” you suggest “Let’s try to reallocate.” You get the idea, you take notice of something with a positive voice and then raise your issue in a question.<br /><br />
Gogek<sup>4</sup> reminds us that psychology tells us that the best way to foster creativity is to make sure that people remain intrinsically motivated, that is motivated by the internal personal satisfaction success will bring. Harvard Business School Professor Teresa Amabile has spent some four decades researching this connection and has found it to be true for all groups of people, from children to professional artists, to knowledge workers.<br />
<br /><strong>2. Make your partner look good.</strong> This is the second rule of improv. Praise the person and keep any criticism focused on the idea, the work, problems you see. Don’t say, “You always …” Instead, you might say, “Wow, that’s an unexpected approach…” And, then you still engage in a critical discussion by moving the conversation’s focus to the proposal, etc. You might ask, “What would we need if we were to take that approach?” Throughout the discussion, you want to keep the focus on the issue and avoid any negatives of separating the person from the problem. <br /><br /><strong>3. Structure the debate</strong>. Plussing is different from brainstorming. In plussing, the dialogue is like a structured debate, serious and constructive. Your goal is to review the existing work and to generate ideas that build further and create better. Throughout you need to listen respectfully and respect the talents and abilities of all your colleagues involved in the discussion. <br /><br />
So, that’s plussing. Think of it as a new tool for your toolkit. Perhaps you might use it the next time you are reviewing a project with your team. Or, perhaps you might use it to help you work through the intricacies of a project or a problem you are personally working on now. You might also use it as an approach in your coaching and mentoring to help your coachee see the questions he or she should be asking as they work through the issue they are facing. And, like any tool you have to practice using it so that it will be available to you when it’s needed. So, need I suggest that you try it out this week.<br />
<br />
Make it a great week for you and your team. . . . jim<br />
<br /><em>Jim Bruce is a Senior Fellow and Executive Coach at MOR Associates. He previously was Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Vice President for Information Systems and CIO at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.</em><br />
<br />
<br />
References:</p>
<ol><li>Joe Hirsch, “<a href="https://leadx.org/articles/pixar/" target="_blank">Pixar’s Secret For Giving Feedback</a>,” LEADx, June 2017.</li>
<li>Jim Dunbar, “<a href="http://www.infogumshoe.com/2011/11/17/pixar-and-plussing/" target="_blank">Pixar and Plussing</a>,” infoGumshoe Blog, November 2011.</li>
<li>Andy Cleff, “’<a href="https://engineering.aweber.com/plussing-learning-and-working-in-a-collaborative-environment/" target="_blank">Plussing’ – Learning and Working in a Collaborative Environment</a>,” AWEBER/ENGINEERING, September 2014.</li>
<li>Daniel Gogek, “<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/tired-dysfunctional-collaborating-steal-3-great-ideas-daniel-gogek" target="_blank">How Pixar Turned Their Criticizers into Creators – and Changed the Movie World Forever</a>,” LinkedIn, December 2015.</li>
</ol><p> <br />
Additional Reading:</p>
<ol><li>David Burkus, <a href="https://hbr.org/2013/07/how-criticism-creates-innovati" target="_blank">How Criticism Creates Innovative Teams</a>,” Harvard Business Review, June 2013.</li>
<li>Len Brzozowski, “<a href="https://lenbrzozowski.wordpress.com/2012/10/21/pixars-plussing-culture/" target="_blank">Pixar’s Plussing: Creating a Culture of Dissent</a>,” lenbrzozowski blog, October 2012.</li>
</ol></div>
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Tue, 30 Oct 2018 11:11:29 +0000Jim Bruce4070 at https://www.morassociates.comhttps://www.morassociates.com/insight/jim-bruce/plus%C2%A0%E2%80%A2%C2%A0sing#comments